Diane Kruger Talks Love In The Host, In Her Life, & Of Don Johnson

Though she's tiny for a model, Diane Kruger's demure stature didn’t keep her from gracing the covers of Vogue Paris, Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan. But the world didn’t really get a glimpse of this German-born beauty until she starred opposite Brad Pitt as ‘the face that launched a thousand ships’ Helen of Troy in Troy.

Her latest is The Host, a sci-fi movie based on a novel by Twilight author Stephenie Meyer in which Kruger plays the Seeker, an alien bent on destroying the human race. At Cinema Society's screening of the futuristic romance, she talks about playing the bad girl, mountain climbing in Chile, and her ridiculous life-long crush on Don Johnson. (Hey, a girl's gotta dream...)

In this movie, you seem to be the only one with a stylist even though you are dressed in white.
"I don’t have input in what I wear in a movie and Andrew Niccol had a really precise idea of what he wanted. Trust me, if it was me, white in the desert would not be my first choice. The sand sticks on it. I couldn’t sit anywhere because they didn’t want the bloody pants to wrinkle. It was a nightmare."

Is playing the bad girl more fun?
"Yes, it’s fun to be bad and less fun to be good. What is fun is to be in charge. Villain or not, you have two really strong female characters, a protagonist and the antagonist. So to be the leader of the pack and tell everybody what to do, it was fun. I liked not to be following the male lead for once. I really liked that."

Are you bossy in real life?
"I’m a woman, I can be. You know, sometime, my cat will tell you all about that. I definitely know what I don’t like. I learned how to let go thanks to my bloody cat. I try to control my cat. I am trying to teach him some manners. It’s almost impossible. He’s a cat. He jumps on the bed. I am okay with sleeping with my cat, but not walking over my face right after I wake up."

How do you keep in shape?
"I know it sounds terrible, but I’m mostly an outdoorsy person. I like hiking a lot. I was just in Chile for two weeks, in the Patagonia, and climbed a volcano that was 18,000-feet high. I’m very active, but I don’t like the idea of dieting. I think it’s possible to eat everything in moderation. That’s my motto."

What were you a big fan of as a teenager?
"I was never into the Twilight phenomenon too much. I was into bands more than anything. I was more into Dirty Dancing, that was my obsession. But I would have never gone to a mall to see Patrick Swayze or anything like that, although I had a huge crush on Don Johnson. My first kiss was to a Don Johnson song, I’m not even kidding, "Tell It like It Is." It’s still to this day on my phone. I’ve had this obsession with him. Some people think I’m absolutely crazy. I am friends with Quentin Tarantino and he was shooting Django in Louisiana and we were shooting The Host in Louisiana and he kept telling me to come so he would introduce me. But I couldn’t. He introduced me at the Vanity Fair Oscar party to Don Johnson. I started crying. He had to walk away. My boyfriend was like, ‘You need to stop drinking. We are taking you home.’"

You seem to get better with age. Are you more secure with yourself?
"No, but I trust my instincts more as an actor, as a woman. I’m open to dialogue. I’m not always right. But I feel strongly about things. It’s important to say what you think in this business. Everybody is scared in Hollywood when a woman speaks up. They want women to be nice and soft. It’s just bullshit. It’s not realistic. I don’t want to do it anymore. I’d rather not work."

Is it easy to speak up? To challenge directors and producers?
"It gets easier only because I have a whole other career in Europe. I have an amazing life now. And it took me for fucking ever to figure out that no part in a movie is better than my amazing life. That puts everything in perspective. If the part is not right, then I will go to Chile and climb a mountain."

Photo: Gregory Pace/BEImages

We hear that you dress yourself a lot of the time.
"Always! Don't you?"

Not always! Though, we mean in terms of the things you wear to the red carpet?
"Yes, I do. But I don't take it that seriously. I just get dressed. There isn't a trend I want to follow."

You clearly have a taste and fluency in fashion that really comes out.
"I love fashion — you know, because I'm a girl. I have a great relationship with some of the designers I met when I was modeling. I tend to pick the same stuff. They know what to send me."

Are you prepared for the onslaught of fandom Stephenie Meyer movies tend to bring like Twilight?
"I don't know if I'm prepared. But I'm excited to see if that happens."

How do you keep things fresh in your relationship with Josh?
"Ha! Good question. You know, we'll date, make time, and do our own thing."

Is it exciting to see each other after going off and doing your own thing?
"Yeah, but that was getting a little old only 'cause he was working in Vancouver for five years. But in general, definitely."